


I will always find a way back to you

by tamifau



Series: Bughead Oneshots [2]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-27 15:07:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19015372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tamifau/pseuds/tamifau
Summary: This is a Oneshot about a lost scene from season 3 episode 8/9 when Betty and Jughead see each other again after Jug ran with Archie and Betty was back with the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. Enjoy!-After they stepped back from the barricade, they raised with their motorcycles down the street to the edge of the woods followed by the guards on their bikes. They knew that the two men in front of them wouldn't step back that easy, they raced them and now following them through the woods, aimed.„Dad -“, he was trying to catch a breath, but got interrupted by FP Jones who guided the way through thesharp thorns and branches of bushes and shrubs. “not now, boy. This way.”Even the leafs under their boots seemed too loud in Jugheads' ears. Fetching air hurt like hell. His lungs begged for a break, but he knew that if he stopped now, he would never reach Riverdale and Betty.





	I will always find a way back to you

The night was dark, not a peaceful night like the ones Jughead spent in Pops with his typewriter or his Laptop, a cup of coffee or a good cheeseburger in front of him. It was darker, even a little bit to dark for Riverdale. The wind was crying between the trees which gave the two men shelter, a place to hide from the flashlights which were trying to caught them. This time it wasn't the light who kept them alive, it was the darkness of nature. Being in the light meant death this time and Jughead knew that.

After they stepped back from the barricade, they raised with their motorcycles down the street to the edge of the woods followed by the guards on their bikes. They knew that the two men in front of them wouldn't step back that easy, they raced them and now following them through the woods, aimed.

„Dad -“, he was trying to catch a breath, but got interrupted by FP Jones who guided the way through the  
sharp thorns and branches of bushes and shrubs. “not now, boy. This way.”

Even the leafs under their boots seemed too loud in Jugheads' ears. Fetching air hurt like hell. His lungs begged for a break, but he knew that if he stopped now, he would never reach Riverdale and Betty.  
If Betty was even there.

God, Jughead knew he should never left Riverdale, left her behind.

Since they got to the barricade at the border of Riverdale he sent little prayers to what ever is up above that his beloved girlfriend was save. His feelings were out of control this time. Fear, Unsuspectingness, but mostly the raven-haired boy was terrified about the circumstances in his hometown. How much did he miss the last days?

“Okay, listen boy.”, FP stopped in front of a huge uprooted tree Jughead recognized.

It was his hiding spot, a playground for him and Archie years ago when the two were not even tall enough to look over it. He also knew, that behind this obstacle there was sweetwater river and across the water was Riverdales Northside. When he concentraded enough he could hear the shallow waters, a sound that didn't reassure him for the first time, but sent a chill down his spine. “Dad, no. It is freezing, we -”

“We have to. I know this place since I was your age, the water here is at breast level, the guides can't track our traces and you want to get to your girl right?”, the voice of the man was more convincing than the fear in his eyes.  
He took a look at the river, trying to recognize as much of it than the silver light of the moon let him to.

“If she is there at all. Dad, I was gone for days and never reached her. I got a bad feeling for this, what if Betty is in danger or worse or -”

“Calm down, boy. We get you there and everything will be fine with you both, okay? But first you have to trust and stay behind me. Do you understand?”

Jugheads lip was trembling from the restrained tears so he put it between his teeth as he nodded. He trusted his father, he already knew that he was worried for Alice as well, even though he wouldn't commit it. But he could also see in his fathers eyes, that there was more. Something he didn't tell him.

The steps behind them grew louder, the light of the flashes brightener and released a view at the sparkling water which should be their safety.

Quickly the men ran around the tree and reached the cold water. Jughead knew, that the officers will come for them before they are deep enough and out of sight in the river, so the panic grew highly in his chest. But before it could overwhelm him, FP pulled his son by his leather jacket with him behind a giant bush right into the edge of the water. The sound of the spashes were luckily covered by the voices of the hunters and before Jughead could take the breath his lungs so desperately needed his Dad covered up his mouth with his hand, one finger lifted to his mouth. The two crouched into the ice cold water deep enough to cover up to the neck.  
The footsteps grew louder till Jughead could see the flashlight through the branches of the bush. He was trembling, not just because of the cold water which covered his body and pulled his clothes heavily under the dark surface.

He experienced in the last few days with Archie on the run how it was to be not the hunter but the hunted. Hell, he was the hunted day by day for his entire life, but this time was different. He wasn't running on his own, he was running for the ones he loved and that made a huge difference.

Seconds, or even minutes he was afraid to breath in fear that the man which stood right next to him on the edge of sweetwater river could notice him and his father, traveling his spotlight around just an inch away  
from their bodies in the dark, holding his gun tight to his body ready to shoot.

The cold around him grew to pain and then to needles which tortured his skin. He closed his eyes, thought of Betty, literally the only thing that kept him calm and standing still. Thought about the last words she said to him, tried to remember in case he wouldn't see her anymore until the man finally put his gun down and a walkie talkie out.

“We lost them, sir. I'm coming back.”, he said angrily and didn't wait for an answer before he turned around and took off.

A sign of releaf rushes through Jugheads body, before the runners began to wade through the water to the other side of the river.

The boys body was no longer freezing, it was deaf. He knew that they have to get out soon, escape from the slowly liquid death. His fathers body were trembling in an uncontrolled way, teeth clicking against each other surrounded with blue lips.

“Come on, Dad, just a few steps ahead.”, Jug whispered between his trembling breaths.

A minute later the both men reached the edge and crawled to the safe ground. A look back confirmed that they were no longer being followed.

The lights of Riverdale shined through the trees, guiding their way back to the town where they belong.  
“Go ahead, boy.”, FP said exhausted. “I'm heading back to our trailer, go and find your girl.”  
“What do you mean, find her.”, Jug asked another wave of fear flooded through his body.

“I wanna be honest with you, Jug. Since you left with Archie I didn't heard from her and saw her neither. But when I asked Alice she said that she was safe, so don't worry.”, FP stopped and looked at his son, whose breath quickened.

“I have to go.”, he just said and started running across the streets to the lightened and peaceful Cooper house.

-

Betty looked at the reflection in the mirror. Dark circles under the eyes showing the exhausted last days. The girl who's starring back at her wasn't somebody she liked, she was marked by the drugs they gave to her, marked by the violent behavior of the nuns and guards of Sister Woodhouse.

Her hair was down, but not as wavy as ever when she was up for something new than her ponytail. It was matt, flat and she felt dirty.

She heard noises from downstairs, talks between the girls and boys from the Sisters of Quiet Mercy.  
Even though Betty was grateful she could safe the children and helped them escape from this terrible place as their Gryffon Queen, fear growed in her too.  
She was determined to be strong for the others, for her to escape. To be the Gryffon Queen who could guide them through the quest.  
She kept moving to get out and now that she was sitting in her childhood room Betty could feel every bone in her body, every step she took.

What if she couldn't find a safe place for them to live?

Mabye it was the bad consience or just a flash of her old caring mother as they arrived home and she were told to went upstairs and rest in her room.

“I take care of the girls, making their beds and something to eat”, Alice said. “Just go upstairs, clean yourself up and rest, my dear.”

Betty could feel, that her mother was sorry for sending her there after the blond girl told her about the Gargoyle King dungeon in the basement and the drugs they gave to her a couple of days before she could see clear again. But as much as she liked the idea of forgiveness, she didn't know if she could ever forget and forgive what happened at the asylum.

As she drove back with her mother, she kept staring out of the window trying to understand what just happened. Even if Alice tried to keep her talking, Betty wasn't in the mood to say something.  
She was tired of talking, keeping her eyes open was exhausting enough.  
But nevertheless she wanted to know what the cause of the quarantine was. Isolate Riverdale from the outside world screamed the name Hiram Lodge in her head.

If Jughead were here, he would say that too.

Her thoughts always traveled back to her boyfriend. Betty didn't know if he was safe, or where the hell he was. Her phone was dead in the drawer of her writing desk so she had to load it before she could check if she missed news.

She couldn't help herself to feel worried, the unwell feeling in her belly didn't want to disappear. Jughead would never leave her behind, he would've come looking for her after a day. Hell, he even called every hour to check on her as she got the flew a few weeks ago and wasn't at school.

The collar of her blue dress seemed to tighten up by the thought that something could have happened to him, the red of the cardigan almost too glaring. She had to get out of this clothes. Her breath began to speeden up, she touched her throat, trying to get more air by loosening the collar, but she couldn't.  
She could feel the panic attack raising inside of her.

Betty tried to concentrate at the reflection of the small nightlight beneath her bed, at the rose walls, the picture of Juggie and her at the homecoming ball that was pinned in front of her at the mirror.  
Her mind went back to that day, the happy feeling she had to appear the first time at a dance with a real date, a boy she loved and nevertheless she calmed down a bit.

 

A knock on her window crashed the illusion and made her flinch. First Betty thought it was the wind who slamed something against the house, but as she turned around she recognized a scared face covered with a grey beanie.

“Jug?”, she whispered and ran to the window to open it.

Almost she stopped for a moment in fear that this was all an illusion too, made up from her mind which playing tricks with her all the time. But as the cold breeze hits her face and a soaking wet Jughead climped into her room she knew it was true.

“You're here.”, he whispered and pulled her into a tightened hug.  
His arms crossing around her back. Jug was trying to calm his breathing as Betty took a step back without getting too much space between them and looked down at him.

“Jug, what happened, why are you soaking wet? You must be freezing.”, she stammered worried and pulled her blanket from the bed across his shoulders over the cold leather of his jacket, before closing the window again “Did you run here?”

“Calm down, Nancy Drew, I know the evidence is all over me”, he giggled and grapped her waist.  
“Yes I did because I was worried about you.” Jughead took her face gentle between his hands and kissed her softly on the forehead.

“You were?”, Betty whispered.

“of course, Betty. I will always be worried about you. My Dad made this strange hints that he didn't saw you around and -”, he stopped talking, as he looked at her the first time completely struggling with words now. “Wait, why are you wearing those clothes Betty. I thought Polly throw them away after she came back.”

Betty swallowed hard and looked down at her hands. Deep down she knew, that Jughead didn't know something about her disappearance. She felt grateful to have a boyfriend who was worried enough for her to climp through her window in the middle of the night through a quarantine, but also she was scared of telling him where she was.

“After the attack of the gargoyle king at our house my mother said I wouldn't be safe here anymore. She -”, the blond girl took a break to breath in and to look Jughead in the eye who already seemed to know that the following sentence would rip his heart out. “so she decided to send me -”

“to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy?”, Jug winced.

The heart of the blond broke a little, but she nodded.

“When she let me came down from upstairs there were this men who grapped me and pulled me out with Sister Woodhouse into the van. I screamed, but mom didn't do anything. I..”

Jughead went a step back as if I slapped him with a hammer or kicked him right in the stomach, but I reached out for him again, putting my hands at his waist.

“Betty, no, please tell me you weren't at this horrible place the whole time I was gone.”, Jughead pulled back again, ripped of his beanie from his head, smashed it to the ground and went through his hair.

He never regretted something more then leaving Riverdale a few weeks ago. Leaving her behind. Going on a trip with Archie, even though it was for his safety, while Betty was in the personal hellhole of their hometown. And most of all he regretted the thought of Betty being safe and sound for the time he was safing Archie.

“Hey”, Betty whispered and layed a hand on his cheek to made him look at her. “I'm fine, okay? Let us get you out of the wet clothes first. You left a Shirt and boxers here the last time, I bring you these to change. Then we can talk about all this.”

Jughead signed, but shivered by the memory of the cold water, directly thought about his Dad and if he came safely to their trailer. He closed his eyes, decided to pull this thought behind and pulled this shirt over his head total aware of Betty watching him in the cornor of her eye. She handed him a towel to dry himself completely and the clothes she already washed since the last time he stayed over. They smelt like her, the light smell of vanilla and flowers he so desperately needed.

As he putted down his trousers he could feel the gaze of Betty all over his body, her eyes pinned at his skin which already feeling warmer because of that. Before he totally lost his mind, he put on the clothes and came back to her. Her gaze was not longer on his body, she looked down at her hands which were clenched to fists and he gently threaded his fingers between hers to release the firm grip.

“Talk to me.”, he whispered while he leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes.

“Where were you all the time?”, she shyly asked without moving. He turned away to look at her, lifted her chin with his finger and made her look up.

“Didn't you get any messenges from me? Didn't your mom at least told you that I called?”, his voice raised a little bit from the anger he already felt for Alice Cooper, as Betty shook his head.

“I ran away with Archie. To protect him, support him and find a safe place to live.”, he responded shortly to evicted her thought of him not coming for her.

“We went from town to town, trying to escape from Hiram Lodge and his obsession to kill the red paladin. We even stayed a night at a farm a few days walking from here and almost got killed by a girl with a shotgun who worked for Hiram Lodge. And I swear I called you at every station I could find after my phone died to inform you about where we are and to know how you're holding up.”, he stopped and lead Betty with him to her bed to sit down, layed a blanket over their shoulders and cuddle her up at his side.

“God, Jug, I'm sorry you two have to went through this.”, she whispered in pain and kissed his naked arm, made a shiver.

“You? Are sorry? Betty, we live in a town were people get killed and trying to be killed day by day. I'm almost used to it. But you went through so much more. As we saved Polly or investigated your brother Charles at the Sisters I only could guess how it must be in there. The thought of you being there a bunch of days it's..”

“No.”, Betty sharply said and lifted herself up to look the raven-haired boy in the eye.

She grapped his face between her cold and shaking hands made him look at the girl which meant more to him than his entire life.

“Don't you dare and blaming yourself for that. It's not your fault. You didn't even know I were in there and if you would I know that you would've came to rescure me.” - “of course, I will always save you, Betty Cooper.”, he whispered shyly and looked down at her mouth, swallowed hard.

Betty closed the space between them, grapped the blanket around her shoulder, pulled it closer to her chest to wrapped the both of them into the tiny save place they built up and layed her lips at his. They were soft as always, warm and carfully against her mouth.

She wrapped her arms around him, pulled him close to her body to warm him up a little bit more. They sit there in silence, calming down in comfort.

As Betty layed her hands in her lap and Jughead tightened his grip on her wrists to lead them to his lips to placed a kiss at her palms Betty flinched.

„What was that?“, Jug asked worried and touched her wrists again gently this time.

„It's nothing, Jug. Just... aching.“, Betty responded and wriggeled her hands out of his grip. The boy raised an eyebrow and looked at his girl, knowing exactly that she was lying.

„Betty, show me.“, his low voice sent a shiver down her back, she knew that she shouldn't contradicted.  
Slowly she pulled the sleeves behind which covered the violett coloured bruises on her arms, the margins turned green-yellow already, since it was a few days ago and gradually healed.

Betty was afraid to look in the face of her boyfriend after he signed in pain as if he was the one who got hurt. The pain in him grew to anger and anger grew to unbearable revenge thoughts.

„Who.“, the simple word showed all the feelings which tried to overwhelmed him. „Jug, don't. It's nothing.“ - „Betty, I swear to God, just tell me who did this.“

Frustration layed over his heart and also this dark heavy guilt he felt deep down for didn't protect the one thing in his life he wanted to protect all the time.

„The guards at the Sisters. They pinned me against the wall as I tried to escape and because I didn't want to take the drugs, or candies as they called them.“, she shrugged as if it was nothing. The fold between Jugheads eyes growed deeper and he pulled his lip between his teeth, wanted to taste blood to keep his anger behind.  
„They gave you drugs?“, he asked in a dangerously tone.

„Yeah, they tried. As they forced me to I wasn't able to resist, so they pulled them down my throat. I wasn't clear minded the next couple of days, but I throwed up after they overdosed me a little so I could think clear again and I kept throwing them up every day since. And I – I.“, she breathed hard like the air ran out of her lungs without coming in again.

„Betts?“, Jug asked worried and layed his hand on her back, but Betty didn't answer. She was concentrated to catch air.

„okay, Betty, calm down. Breath.“, the boy stammered and lifted hisself in front of her to look her directly in the eye. His hands traveling to her shoulders. „Breath with me. In and out. In. Out.“ He tried to comfort her, to take the panic attack away with only being there for her. A few breaths later she finally calmed down.  
„I'm here now, okay? I'm not leaving you.“

As Juggie looked at the blonde, his look softened a little. He pulled her back at his side, layed his arms around her and placed a kiss at her forehead. „Something like that will never happen to you again, I swear. I will watch over you as long as I live. We don't have to talk about that.“

„It's okay, Jug. There's so much I need to talk to you about, crazy things I realized in there, but for now I just want to be with you okay?“

Jughead nodded and stroked lightly over the bruises. He imagined it was a whole handprint that streched across her ivory skin in dark shadows. The blood rushed through his veins like hot iron by the thought that somebody laid a hand on his beloved one.

„But Jug, if you were with Archie than why isn't he home too?“, Betty looked at him. „He stayed at our last stop. Toledo, with Jellybean and my mom.“

„Wait, what?“, Betty pulled back instantly, the smile on her face brigthened the room, his mind. He released his lip and breathed through. He was so happy to finally be with her again, seeing her smile, feeling her skin.  
„you saw your mom and JB? And, are they fine?“  
Betty Cooper, always caring about the ones she love.

„Easy there, Betty. It was fine, but as you said, we can talk tomorrow about everything.“, she smiled at him as if nothing ever happened to her before she nodded again.

Jughead didn't know how, but even if the world is going down, she was there by his side and always will be  
his candle in the night.

His gaze traveled back to her baby blue dress with the white colar, kissing her forhead gently again. “Please.”, Jughead wimpered “could you take off that dress? It hurts to see you in it, Betts.”

“I wanted to shower anyways, just clean myself up.”, she breathed against his shoulder and looked down at the blue cotton. “you should, too. It will warm you up, Jug.”

Betty stood up, wrapped the blanket around him and took the clothes she placed at her cupboard after she came home.

She felt Jugheads eyes at her back, could feel the tension between them. She took a deep breath and a little smirk came up to her lips. “Would you like to join?”

Just a moment later she could feel the arms of her boyfriend around her waist, stroked through her belly. Goosebumps started to rise on her skin which was already on fire by the thought of the two of them under the shower together. She swallowed hard before turning around and wrapped her arms around his neck to kiss him desperately. Their tongues dancing together, soothing against each other. Jughead putting her lip between his teeth, elicited a moan deep down her throat. As he pulled away to breath the looked at her, his eyes a lot darker than before, before he whispered in a dark sexy voice:

“If you're up for that, it would be a pleasure to get you out of this dress.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading my friends! Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. :)


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